Life in Paradise!

Well it's official, the beaches in Thailand are the most beautiful tropical places in the world....or at least the places I have been so far in my life. I just got back from a much needed 2 week vacation, which was spent island hopping in the south of Thailand. Three of my friends from home came to visit and go on the beach trip with me as well 4-10 volunteers. We started off at Koh Samui, an island on the east coast of Thailand. We stayed there for 2.5 days relaxing on the beaches and partying at all the crazy touristy spots at night. The first night, one of my friends who is a volunteer actually got drunk and was being so crazy on the dancefloor that she actually dislocated her knee! She had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance and spent 2 nights there until she could at least walk on crutches. As far as Koh Samui goes though, it was the most developed place we went and in comparison, my least favorite. We did enjoy the beaches though as well as the cheap Thai massages that you can find right there on the beach. We could get an hour massage for less than $10 right there on the beach. We also went to an Ice Bar in Koh Samui, which was completely made out of ice. It had a tuk tuk (small taxi like car) made out of ice, an elephant made out of ice, chairs and tables as well as our glasses. It's the first Ice Bar in a tropical place like Thailand.
After Koh Samui, my 3 friends from home and I went to Koh Tao, a little island near Koh Samui. It was much more natural and very rustic, we loved it! We got there in the evening so we just went for a quick swim and then walked around the streets eating food from the vendors. The next day we only had the morning and afternoon to play in Koh Tao before returning to Koh Samui. So we rented a longtail boat, a traditional Thai-style boat, and went to a nearby island where snorkeling is very popular. We spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach and snorkeling in the beautiful water. That evening we took the ferry back to Koh Samui for a night before taking a plane the next day to Krabi.
On Tuesday, our flight landed in Krabi and we met up with the 10 other volunteers that were getting their scuba certification there. Krabi was by far my most favorite of all the places we went. The first night there we just relaxed on the beach and met a thai family who owned a restaurant on the beach. They ended up setting up a day tour to Koh Pi Pi the next day as well as inviting us to come back and have dinner with them, complete with mangos and sticky rice and som tam (papaya salad).
The next day, Wednesday, me, my three friends from home, as well about about 6 volunteers took a boat tour all around Koh Pi Pi, an island off the coast of Krabi. Koh Pi Pi was the island that the movie The Beach was filmed and now I understand why. The boat took us to all the amazing little inlets around the islands and let us snorkel at each place. The water was this amazing emerald green with huge rocks jutting out of the sea with trees and greenery all over them. The beaches were covered with white, powdery sand and palm trees everywhere. I could be content living there for the rest of my life. The tour included lunch at the only place that was developed on the entire island, which consisted of a few hotels and a few restaurants. The tour ended at 4 and we returned to our hotel in Krabi. The next few days we spent just lying at the beach and going out to nearby bars that coincidentally were full of Thai prostitutes. Every tourist destiniation in Thailand is loaded with Thai women throwing themselves at any white foreigner.
On Friday, we all got up relatively early cosidering the night we had before, and rented a van to take us to Phuket. Phuket is another island north of Krabi. Every year in Phuket around this time they have a festival called the vegetarian festival. It's a tradition that originally started in China but then was adopted by Thais here all over Thailand. It's a 9 day festival where they worship the gods by following the precepts as well as enduring different types of body mutilation to show that their mind is stronger than their bodies. Our guesthouse happened to be on the very street that all of this was taking place in Phuket town. The first few days we spent most of our time at the beach. We found a beach called Kata Beach that was beautiful and fun with lots of cute boys. I even went parasailing one of the days, which was a total blast!!! The sunsets on this beach looked like the sky was on fire, I have never seen a sunset that amazing before in my life. We spent most of the nights eating dinner on this beach and watching the sunset. Monday was our last full day in Phuket and we tried to do a bit of the cultural things and see some of the Vegetarian festival. We went to a procession in the street that took place around 8am. It was absolutely crazy! I saw all sorts of body mutilation and crazy people in transes. People had huge matal rods through their cheeks as well as knives, an anchor and pins all over their bodies. I even saw men taking an axe and cutting their tongues to shreds. It was a bloody mess but definitely interesting to see.
Our vacation ended on Tuesday and we all headed back to Bangkok. I spent a night in Bangkok with my friends from home before they left for Japan early on Wednesday morning, when I then headed back to site. I will be at site for 2 days before I head back into Bangkok for Halloween this weekend. I figure I might as well ease my way back into site life so that I don't get completely and utterly depressed. School starts next week too, so I figure I will be able to get back into the swing of things once that starts up again.
Other than that, my vacation was a BLAST and I had some of the most amazing times of my life! I can't wait to go back!!!

PS
Pics of the vacation will be posted on Facebook for any of those who are interested.